Let me give you a little history. As most of you know, I moved to Los Angeles just over a year ago (June 2008) to pursue my "dreams" of working in the creative, entertainment, industry. During this past year, I have been blessed to find a church family at Ecclesia (www.churchinhollywood.com), a church situated in the middle of Hollywood with a heart for the oppressed, hurting people of both our immediate culture, and the world. Also during this past year I have put forth a lot of effort working on ME and what I need(ed) to succeed. Although it was necessary to get me to a place of stability, it has definitely left me with a feeling of "what am I doing to help others and show them the love of Christ?" That leads me to where I am today, in need of your support as I join 10 passionate, loving Ecclesians bring justice, hope and most of all the love of Christ to slums of India.
Ecclesia has a strong relationship of support with the groups we will be serving alongside, both financially and by regularly sending teams to encourage and help in any necessity. Here is a small glimpse of those ministries and organizations. (Due to the sensitive nature of these organizations, I have been asked to leave out the names and the names of those working there for safety).
We arrive in Delhi the first day, where we will meet with our partner organization who work with students from the US where they learn culture, worldview and experience life in a third world country. They will introduce us to culture in India and Hinduism, which is the prominent religion. These partners also work in orphanages and run ESL classes as well as attend to justice issues.
We continue on, by train, to the slum community of Dehradun. Here there is a school for slum children, who would otherwise never be allowed to attend school. Slum children often scavenge the streets or pick through the dumps for reusable materials. This organization enables them to attend school, begin to discover their value, talents and worth as God's children. There is also a health clinic and community programs to empower the women of the slums.
My team is going to run a children's program there, for 4 days. This will be where we spend the majority of our time. I know this will not only be life changing for the children, but for each one of us as well.
Another portion of our trip will take us into the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains, to a town called Mussoorie, where we will meet and support our partners who are training pastors of small churches throughout the mountainous villages. Persecution, rough terrain and cultural barriers make the spread of the Gospel very difficult in this region of India.
We are all working to raise support for this journey, as well as paying for a portion on our own. God has been so faithful and I am asking you to pray for me on this journey as well as consider supporting me financially. Of course it's fully tax deductible, but even better is the difference it will make in the life of a slum child, woman, man or family.
You may make a secure donation using the paypal link on the right or you may want to mail your donation directly to me, you can do so at the address below, remember to
make checks payable to Ecclesia with India Trip and my name written in the memo.
Matthew Schulert
746 S. Normandie Ave. #107
Los Angeles, CA, 90005
Thank you, you are a true blessing in my life.
as much as i need to write a full blown blog on the trip, seeing the last post was from shortly after loosing my equipment, and so much more has happened since, and i've been back in the states for a week already, i'm just not ready. i'm still feeling a bit of the jet lag, i thought i'd kicked it but i'm dragging today, but i guess it IS a monday.
